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With any new system, there’s a learning curve. That much was clear for the University of Maine football team’s offense in their first spring scrimmage last weekend, as the Black Bears struggled to move the ball and failed to score against their teammates on the Black Hole defense.
Yesterday, however, the plus side of the learning curve reared its head. UMaine’s offense found the end zone three times and showed tremendous improvement in the team’s second intra-squad scrimmage of the spring at Alfond Stadium.
“Today was the most success we’ve had,” said offensive coordinator Bob Wilder. “It had been discouraging for our guys, so to score three today is good. Today was really, really encouraging.”
The live full-contact scrimmage didn’t feature the kicking game, so the offense started at a designated yard-line on each series. The top-unit’s first series began at the defense’s 23-yard line. Senior quarterback Ron Whitcomb threw a touchdown pass to classmate Arel Gordon on the first play, and followed it up with an 11-yard strike to junior Matthew Mulligan on the third play of the second drive.
“It’s always nice when you start the offense out with the first series in the red zone,” Cosgrove mused. “But you’ve got to allow for things like a turnover or a kick return that can come about in a game.”
The Black Hole defense responded though, growing tougher as the afternoon wore on and the offense started drives further away from the goal line. The defense forced one turnover, a fumble recovery and registered several key sacks.
“When the offense is backed up with a longer field, it’s more difficult and certainly the defense responded in those situations,” Cosgrove said.
The Black Bears were able to connect on several big plays, including a 20-yard Whitcomb completion to sophomore Kenny Fersner. Another highlight featured redshirt freshman QB Michael Brusko ducking around a defender to find senior Steve Williams, who broke a tackle near the sidelines and gained a first down. Brusko also connected with Gordon for a solid pickup.
Whitcomb completed 11-of-19 passes for 119 yards and Brusko was 6-of-12 for 60 yards. Neither threw an interception as both looked sharp.
“Our quarterback play was markedly better today,” Cosgrove said. “Ronny was pretty sharp – there were a few throws right on the money. He missed a couple too, threw it a little bit behind a couple guys, but he’ll grow off that and get better.”
Sophomore receiver Manzi Pierre had a breakout afternoon, hauling in several balls including an eight-yard touchdown pass from Brusko. Perhaps his best play of the day came when he caught a Whitcomb pass over the middle and absorbed a blistering hit from linebacker Sean Wasson. Pierre held the ball and gained the first down.
Sophomore running back Jerron Pearson had several nice runs, including jaunts of 13 and nine yards during the second unit’s final red-zone possessions.
“We’re getting excited with the number of young players we have running multiple positions,” Wilder said.
Those multiple personnel groupings are the heart of the spread philosophy the Black Bears are shifting to this spring. The theory is that if a team can run various plays out of a multitude of formations, opposing defenses won’t be able to predict what’s coming.
In order to effectively accomplish that, though, offensive players must learn a variety of positions.
“Take, for example, Arel Gordon. He needs to know tailback, slot receiver and outside receiver,” Wilder said. “You need to have as many of your skilled players in multiple positions as possible.”
The Black Bears installed a variant of this spread system in the latter stages of last season, enjoying some success. But the version that will be seen in 2006 is much more complicated.
“Seventy-five percent of what we’re doing is brand new,” Wilder said. “The key to what we did last year was carrying over some plays and some experience. Arel’s played in the backfield, and Whitcomb’s had some work out of the shotgun.”
It goes without saying that to effectively execute a shotgun oriented, spread offense, you need a quality center. The task of replacing All-Atlantic-10 center and three-year starter Ben Lazarski falls to sophomore Ryan Canary, who saw playing time last season at the guard position. So far, the adjustment has been seamless, with no bad snaps during yesterday’s action.
“Having these 15 practices at center is important for him. It’s one thing to be practicing your snaps, working to the air; it’s another thing when you have a creature like [6-3, 290 pound defensive tackle] Mike DeVito standing across from you, right in your face,” said Wilder.
Still, the Black Bears’ young offensive line has some work to do. A unit that had Whitcomb running for his life at times last year lost Lezarski, stud Ryan Bird and All-Conference tight end Josh Radulski.
Anchored by returnees Canary, junior Shawn Demaray and sophomores Chris Parcells and Chris Arnao, the unit is young. They gave up several sacks in key situations to the Black Hole defense and had some trouble picking up outside blitzes.
“Some of our young linemen are a ways away,” Cosgrove said. “But we’ve got some good players on that defensive line for them to contend with. With those practice reps, they’ll keep getting better.”
The Black Bears return to the practice field early Tuesday morning as well as Wednesday and Friday next weekend. The spring season culminates with the Jeff Cole blood drive on May 4 and the Jeff Cole Memorial scrimmage on May 6 at Alfond Stadium.
Bangor Daily News